Anna Torv Is a Woman We Love

The sunny-haired star of Fox's Fringe — who looks a lot more comfortable without that bulky FBI uniform — finally reveals what she thinks you need to know about life, love, Vegemite, and women. Specifically, her.

Anna Torv is thirty-one. She's from Australia (where she is much more famous). She's done a lot of theater, a few TV shows. We mostly know her from the creepy Fox show Fringe as FBI agent Olivia Dunham, whom she plays as both hard-ass and naïf, fearless and innocent, aware that evil lurks but always surprised to find it. The classic combinations. Torv has a sense of humor, too. And it turns out she's wise. Which is why we'll just let her speak for herself. Here, some essential wisdom from a charming woman. Along with a few pictures for context.

Ari Michelson

Everybody's funny if you love them.

Ari Michelson

The apple is perfect because of the bruise that runs through it.

Ari Michelson

I've read only fiction, so I don't know anything actual.

Ari Michelson

I don't think I've ever burped out loud in front of anybody in my life. I don't think I've ever heard my mother fart. It just doesn't happen.

Ari Michelson

If someone could see what I did in my twenties, I'd be moooooooortified. But you're supposed to go and try all that stuff, aren't you?

Ari Michelson

Yeah, I guess I'm economical. Not because I try, but because I'm really not that interested in shoes.

Ari Michelson

It doesn't cost anything to go to the beach.

Ari Michelson

It's heartbreaking to watch a man cry. But it's heartbreaking to watch a woman cry, too, isn't it? With a man, though, it happens so rarely, so it's a sign: Take me. This is who I am and where I am.

Ari Michelson

I don't want to be the "I'm fine, I can do it" type. I love to have the door opened for me.

Ari Michelson

That sex scene in The Pacific? You don't get that on Fringe, do you? I don't think anyone finds them easy. It's not that I'm embarrassed about my boobs. It's just that some part of you really doesn't want that out there. At the same time, you want to get good at it. In the moment, what you're really thinking is, Shit, I need a mint.

They say Australians get that ten-yard stare. It comes from the land and the horizon. You can see all around you for as far as you can see. So you just stare. I do it all the time.

Sometimes there will be a line in the script and I just can't imagine saying it. I'll ask an American and they'll say, "Oh, yeah. That's how we say it." We just say things differently in Australia — like torch. I'd ask, "Can I have the torch?" It seems to fall flat when I say, "Can I have the flashlight?"

I don't go to clubs or places where people go to be picked up. But if I'm out, I usually sit at the bar.

If someone carries your bag out in Australia, it's like a favor. I always feel sick when I forget to tip the guy carrying it here.

It's a hard concept to get used to: If I pay you more, you do it better.

I just can't bear to swallow Vegemite, and I don't know how people do it. It's revolting. If you want to try something from Australia, go with Tim Tams. They're sweet chocolate biscuits.

Depth. I want somebody who's gonna need me.

I'm terrible at practical jokes. I do them too well, so they're not funny. I end up saying, "Oh, no, I'm joking, I'm joking... ."

I didn't know much about video games. There are some awfully violent ones. But Heavenly Sword is different. I've had huge conversations with a friend who made it. I think what he wants to do is to make the player care. Yes, there's killing. But the character I play in Heavenly Sword, Nariko, is ultimately protecting her family and this runaway girl. It's a beautiful game. It's beyond a video game. The landscape is to protect and to care. My friend is working toward a world where you get an emotion out of the people who are playing it. See if you can make them cry if they couldn't save the people who they were trying to protect. This isn't Pac-Man.

It doesn't necessarily matter what your answer is to the question: What is art? So long as you have one.

A friend of mine says his two favorite artists are Picasso and Rembrandt. Picasso because he paints the beautiful in such an ugly fashion. And Rembrandt because he paints the ugly so beautifully.

I don't feel like I've hit my stride. So I wonder what the moment will be when I get to be who I want to be.

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